Real Estate News by the Numbers: Week of August 20 – August 26

A quick rundown of the important real estate news from the week of August 20 – August 26, by the numbers:

72% – Percentage of major cities where buying is more affordable than renting according to Trulia. The only major cities where it is more affordable to rent than buy are New York, NY, Fort Worth, TX, Omaha, NE, Seattle, WA, San Fransisco, CA, Kansas City, MO and Portland, OR.

31% – Percentage of home sales that were foreclosure sales in the second quarter. That is down from the 36% that made up first quarter sales.

20% – Percentage of homes that have flood insurance in the U.S. The number is particularly relevant as Hurricane Irene approaches the east coast.

$2.28 Million – Median home price in 2010 in Hillsborough, CA. Hillsborough was #1 on CNNMoney‘s “Pricey Homes” list.

25 – Number of metro areas in the U.S., that experienced quarter-over-quarter increases in home values since the start of 2011. Topping the list is Bay City, MI, which had a first quarter price increase of 3.4% and a second quarter price increase of 6.7%.

10% – Percentage of homes sales in Baltimore in the first half of the year that were under $10,000. That equates to 275 homes sold below $10,000.

$5 Billion – Amount Warren Buffett invested in Bank of America this past week. In recent weeks, the bank’s stock had declined significantly. Over the past 18 months, Bank of America has suffered $9 billion in losses, with more projected losses on the horizon.

4.22% – Average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage this week according to Freddie Mac. The rate is up slightly from last week, when average rates set a record low of 4.15%.

0.7% – Drop in new homes sales in July from the previous month. On a seasonally adjusted rate, 298,000 new homes sold, off from the 310,000 new home sales experts predicted.

1.0% – Growth in second quarter GDP according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). That is down from BEAs initial estimate of 1.3% growth.

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1 Comment

With Warren Buffet buying into BofA like this, I think things are really starting to set in. I know some people were disappointed with that decision, but it was desperately needed. People don’t realize what a ponzi scheme the banks are running these days still. Now, they have tons of bad mortgages on their books. I don’t feel sorry for them in any way but they were lending anywhere from 10:1 to 100:1 before the crash. Fractional reserve banking at it’s best!